Let me introduce myself. This guy, on the picture, looks just like me! The only difference is that I would have a hard time to buy such a nice horse for just $4.50. Lucky man! - Uncle Nimra

I am an electrical engineer, educated in the Czech Republic, living and working in the heart of American South. I spend most of my productive time by beating the keyboard of my small laptop, which is usually attached to an industrial computer generally known as PLC (most of the time Allen Bradley). The PLC is typically part of some kind of production machinery - which, depending on how hard I beat the keyboard, gradually starts producing something. I do this as contracts for different customers, so that the work itself never gets boring. My biggest contribution to the culture is a setup, consisting of my laptop with CD player, set of headsets with noise suppressing circuits. This helps me to overcome sometimes long hours of online programming in a noisy factory - listening to just about anything.

I often work with another engineers - usually mechanical, who typically have to beat their hammers or in a better case their drafting table, to make these machines work. Together we can make a whole automated machine, that produces something.

Another element in this plot is our electrician, who can twist the screwdriver long enough to connect all the necessary wires - which sometimes is quite an accomplishment. He also functions as our royal translator in cases that my version of southern drawl is not compatible with the commonly used one in the area. - This happens quite often.

The most important factor is my wife, who patiently looks over my shoulder, when I work on this page and does not give me a hard time for not doing anything more useful. My three kids (the oldest one finishes his studies on Georgia Tech - and is doing quite well, the younger is finishing his high school and likes to work on homepages - except of mine, the youngest is getting ready to finish kindergarten) remind me sometimes the horse in this picture - I wonder why?

Although Ales is very popular in his homeland, unfortunately, his drawings are not much publicized. There is nowhere to buy reproductions of his paintings for example. His drawings can be most often found as illustrations in various books, including some elementary text books. I wish, the museum in Pisek - Czech Republic - (and others) would have more options to promote him.

Ales was known for his healthy dose of good old Czech stubbornness. He had an independent mind. He liked to paint what he wanted, refusing to take orders. He never become rich or internationally famous. He painted Czech and Slovak country but his paintings are beautiful enough to be enjoyed by anybody. They also tell a lot about the real Czech country life about a hundred years ago and the spirit and culture of that nation.

If you ever visit Ales's house in Mirotice (near Pisek - south Bohemia) say hello to the guide. She is a terrific lady, everyone will enjoy talking with her. She is severely handicapped, having her share of pain in a society, where handicapped people are not regarded equivalent by many. She is doing a great job. We thank her very much, think of her often and wish her good luck.

I would like to thank Mike Harrison - the head geek of Chattanooga On Line, Inc. for hosting this home page on his system. When we talked about making Mikolas Ales homepage a few months ago, he thought, it was a good idea - especially since so far nobody in Ales's own country came up with any Internet collection of his work to introduce him finally to the rest of the world. We are proud to have something started.

By the way, the pictures look really nice - better than on screen - when printed on a decent laser printer (at least 600 DPI).

Another factor in making this page was Dr. Karel Hujer. We met him in 1984, when arriving to Chattanooga from Europe, wondering if we will be able to find our way from the airport. There he was, heading a group of about 50 people welcoming us in flawless Czech language. We have enjoyed his company many times ever since - he was responsible for getting my two sons interested in stars and astronomy. He had a terrific personality. Majority of the images came from a book, he gave to my children one day to familiarize them with painter Ales. We miss him very much and I hope, that one day somebody will come up with his homepage. Being a great and enthusiast fighter against communism, his writings were very interesting. I am sure that his relatives in London or publishers of Czech magazines in US have a good collection of articles and studies, he wrote. His work was also collected by the former communist police in the former Czechoslovakia. Karel's favorite joke was to make tens or hundreds of copies of some of his most popular anticommunist articles and mail them randomly to various addresses in the Czechoslovakia. He slipped a small note to each envelope, saying: "Dear comrade policeman, if you managed to fetch this copy, you have another 200 to go. Good luck!&quot.

One weekend, several years ago, Karel asked us, if we can take him to dig out some seedlings of cyprus trees growing wild in pastures around Chattanooga. We found some nice ones near Cleveland, TN on the way from Chattanooga to Knoxville. We got few for him and a couple for our garden. Our trees are already quite tall. In summer evenings, when we sit outside, enjoying a beautiful view of the countryside of north Georgia, we can smell these trees and listen to a bunch of small birds, who built their nests in their branches. We always think of Karel.

How about checking Ales's gallery, or "About Ales" section and tell us what you like and mainly, what you do not like, so that we can fix it